The Best Screen Protectors for iPhone 8, 7, 6s, and 6 (and Their Plus Sizes)

You don’t have to spend as much as a video game costs to get a good glass screen protector for your iPhone. In fact, after testing 12 models ranging from $3 apiece to $50, we found one of the least expensive options to be the best: TechMatte’s amFilm Tempered Glass Screen Protector (in versions for iPhone 8, 7, 6s, and 6 and iPhone 8 Plus, 7 Plus, 6s Plus, and 6 Plus) covers the entire active area of the iPhone’s display, something not all protectors can claim. It’s also as scratch-resistant as anything else we tested, it’s crystal clear, and fingerprints wipe right off. Installation is easy enough, and we appreciate all the cleaning tools included in the box. And even if you get a speck of dust under the glass on your first attempt, it’s not that big of a deal, because you get two amFilm protectors in each package.

Buying Options

A glass screen protector can’t guarantee that you won’t break your iPhone’s screen, but it can prevent the screen from getting scratched, and scratches can affect glass’s structural integrity and make cracks more likely. Glass is more protective than film, and it comes closer to the look and feel of the iPhone’s own display.

Buying Options

We found the Maxboost Premium Tempered Glass Screen Protector for iPhone 8/7/6s/6 and iPhone 8 Plus/7 Plus/6s Plus/6 Plus to be nearly as good as TechMatte’s amFilm. Like the amFilm, it comes in a package of two with all the accessories you need to clean your screen before installation. It also comes with a frame for aligning the glass during installation. We prefer the amFilm protector based on its slightly wider size that covers a bit more of the screen, as well as amFilm’s stronger track record, but the Maxboost is a great alternative if our pick goes out of stock.

Why you should trust us

I’ve tested screen protectors for Wirecutter since 2016, and other protection accessories since 2014. Before that, I was the accessories editor at iLounge for a little over three years. During my tenure, I reviewed more than 1,000 products, including dozens of screen protectors across multiple models and generations of Apple devices, and the first glass screen protector (Spigen’s GLAS.t for iPhone 4).

While researching this guide, we interviewed Matt Ham, who has a master’s in mechanical engineering and is the founder and president of Computer Repair Doctor; Kyle Wiens, CEO of iFixit, likely the most well-known technology-repair advocate; Timothy Katsch, vice president of iDropped; and Mario Haas, head of development and application at Schott (a company that makes ultrathin glass).

Who should get this

As mentioned earlier, a glass screen protector is no guarantee against cracks. The sheer number of factors that can lead to a screen cracking—everything from the height of the drop to the angle at which the phone lands to the material it lands on to the humidity (really!)—mean that it’s impossible to make this promise. Given that, is a screen protector worth your money?

A good case is more important than a screen protector for keeping your screen intact.

“While screen protectors aren’t perfect, they definitely help,” said Computer Repair Doctor’s Matt Ham. “The basic science is simple, adding an extra layer of tempered glass protects the original screen. The tempered glass screen protector is not an impenetrable force field of protection, it’s an added layer of defense.”

That last point is key: A screen protector may help prevent damage from a direct impact to the face of your phone (though it’s not clear how much the protector does to cushion blows, rather than just help avoid scratches), but it’s just a bit of added protection, not an impenetrable shield. And it won’t do much to guard against blows to the corner or edge of the phone’s body, which are far more common: Our friends at iFixit tallied the broken screens they had on hand and concluded that 75 percent of them had been damaged at the corner or edge. This means that a good case—we have guides to the best cases for the iPhone X, 7 and 8 series, 6s and 6 series, and SE/5s/5—is even more important than a screen protector: Paired with a case, an iPhone screen protector may help prevent damage to your phone.

But scratch protection is worthwhile, too. A phone with a scratched screen is less pleasant to use, and it will be worth less if you ever decide to sell it. More important, scratches weaken the structural integrity of glass. Kyle Wiens of iFixit told us, “A major factor in glass breaking is if anything has already scratched it. It’s much easier to break scratched glass. So if the screen protector takes the scratch instead of your screen, then it reduces the likelihood the screen will break.” Timothy Katsch of iDropped also said that microcracks can deteriorate glass, so it’s better for an inexpensive and disposable glass screen protector to take this damage than the phone itself. “I do think glass protection glass films are a great invention,” Mario Haas of Schott told us. “Such glasses form an additional protection shield against outside influences… If the protection glass film cracks, the display glass underneath stays intact. When that occurs, the protector can be easily replaced.”

How we picked and tested

We used a Mohs hardness test kit to see how easily each screen protector scratched. Photo: Michael Hession

We focused on glass screen protectors because protective films are less scratch-resistant, take away from the look and feel of the iPhone’s display, and have been largely supplanted by affordable glass protectors.

We wanted to test a few well-known brands, so we turned to Belkin, BodyGuardz, and Zagg (Zagg also owns the InvisibleShield line). These protectors are widely available, but they’re almost always expensive. We also wanted to see what you get with the best inexpensive models—if they perform as well as (or better than) the high-priced options, we knew we wouldn’t need to explore the middle ground.

For each screen-protector model we tested, we followed the instructions in the box to install it on the appropriate phone (either an iPhone 7 or an iPhone 7 Plus). We evaluated how clear the instructions were and how helpful any installation tools proved to be. Once the screen protector was in place, we visually inspected it to look for any obvious degradation of screen quality or brightness, and we ran our fingers along the perimeter, checking for obnoxiously sharp edges. We used the phone in a normal manner to confirm that the protector didn’t interfere with use of the touchscreen. During this use, we also observed how readily fingerprints showed on the protector, and then we wiped off the screen (using a cotton T-shirt) to see how easily we could remove those fingerprints.

We then broke out our Mohs hardness test kit. The Mohs test evaluates the hardness of a mineral based on if it can be scratched by a set of reference minerals, each rated on a scale from 1 (talc, the softest) to 10 (diamond, the hardest). This isn’t the test that screen-protector manufacturers use or advertise; they instead rely on something called the ASTM Film Hardness by Pencil Test, which is a test designed for coated materials. We don’t think the pencil test is the best way to evaluate screen hardness because even the hardest pencil in this test (9H) is softer than tempered glass, so any decent glass screen protector will get a 9H rating, and the pencil test thus won’t reveal differences in scratch resistance between models. More important, many of the things that might scratch a screen or a screen protector are harder than a 9H pencil; the Mohs kit includes materials that can scratch tempered glass.

To confirm that the Mohs test would be valid, we asked Ivar Reimanis, PhD, Herman F. Coors Distinguished Professor of Ceramic Engineering and professor of metallurgical and materials engineering at the Colorado School of Mines. Although he did temper his response by saying that the Mohs test wasn’t a perfect analogue to the pencil test, he concluded that “the ranking would be similar, since you are just evaluating the resistance to scratching with two different probes.”

In the Mohs test, we started with the number 1 stylus, holding it at about a 70-degree angle and applying a moderate amount of force as we dragged it down the glass multiple times in varied directions. (We couldn’t guarantee precisely consistent pressure across trials, but we did our best to use a similar amount of force each time. Unless two protectors were very close in their hardness, the variance in pressure was unlikely to hide the difference, as we saw little ambiguity in the tests—when something scratched, it was very evident.) For each screen protector, we repeated this test with increasing reference picks until a pick scratched the glass. We then recorded the number of the hardest stylus that didn’t scratch the glass, along with the number of the stylus that did scratch it. Because we didn’t have styluses with hardness ratings between integers, in this guide we note for each protector the range of hardness (for example, “between 6 and 7”) that includes the actual scratch resistance of that model.

We didn’t do any sort of drop tests with the screen protectors, because we don’t think such tests are particularly relevant. Tests in which a heavy object, such as a ball bearing, is dropped directly onto the screen don’t represent real-world scenarios—not to mention that an impact that breaks a screen protector may not have broken the phone’s unprotected screen. (We couldn’t easily measure the strength and hardness of that screen, and proprietary data on screen glass isn’t available.) In addition, it’s impossible to re-create every kind of impact a phone may suffer, so the results of a particular type of drop test can’t be generalized to cover all scenarios.

Both versions of the amFilm protector—for standard and Plus iPhone sizes—cover the iPhone’s active display but stop short of the curved edges of the glass to reduce the risk of the protector separating from the screen. If you’ve used an edge-to-edge screen protector on a flat-face phone (such as the iPhone SE or 5s), this design is initially a bit jarring, as you’ll feel the edge of the protector when using the phone, but it’s common across every protector we tested.

The glass has precise openings near the top for the ear speaker and the ambient light sensor; that opening is larger on the Plus version to expose the front camera. The glass also has an opening for the Home button, tightly tailored for a good level of protection, but not so much so that the glass blocks Touch ID access. We appreciate that the glass’ edges aren’t squared off or sharp—something we’ve seen with some glass screen protectors, and a design that can be uncomfortable. Even around the Home button, we didn’t mind running a finger around the smooth edge.

The amFilm’s glass is as clear as it gets. We saw no issues with clarity or brightness, and we quickly got used to the protector being on the phone. And though any glass surface will accumulate fingerprints and oil from skin, we found that this one didn’t show them too readily, and we wiped them off very easily. The touchscreen’s responsiveness also wasn’t affected in any way, as it still recognized even the slightest brush of a finger (and still worked with touchscreen gloves), and we had no issues using the phone’s pressure-sensitive 3D Touch feature.

The amFilm protector didn’t scratch until we used the number 8 Mohs pick. Photo: Michael Hession

In our Mohs hardness scratch tests, the amFilm measured between 7 and 8. That’s as high a rating as we found with any glass screen protector we tested, and significantly higher than with some of the competition. We also didn’t see any damage when we tested using house keys, which is a good sign of real-world protection. And after carrying the phone in a pocket for a few weeks, we didn’t see any significant buildup of dust around the edges of the glass, which can happen with some adhesive protectors.

Not only is the amFilm much less expensive than the big brands, but the low-priced package includes two screen protectors. This means that you don’t have to worry as much about messing up the installation: If dust gets underneath or you don’t align the first protector properly, you can peel it off and start again with the second. If everything does go right the first time, you have an extra for a friend or as backup. Included with the protectors is one of the most complete installation kits we’ve found: two sets of wet and dry wipes for cleaning the screen, a small dust-free cloth, six dust-removal stickers that you can also use to apply the protector using the “hinge method,” and a sturdy cardboard bubble remover.

Like all the screen protectors we tested for Apple’s current phones, the amFilm doesn’t wrap around the curved edges of the iPhone’s glass front. Photo: Michael Hession

One thing that’s not included is a screen-alignment tool, which comes with the iPhone X version and with some of the competitors. Instead, the plastic film protecting the glass has tabs at the top and bottom that allow you to align the screen protector without having to worry about holding it at the edges. In our tests, getting everything lined up properly was easy.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

The amFilm screen protector installs pretty easily thanks to the tabs at the top and bottom of the removable plastic film. We would have preferred a more precise tool, such as an installation tray, but the lack of such a tool isn’t a dealbreaker.

Long-term test notes

We have continued to use the TechMatte amFilm Tempered Glass Screen Protector on various iPhones and have yet to break a screen. The screen-protector glass has also resisted scratches very well. On some of our test units, we’ve noticed tiny chips on the edges of the screen protector after drops, but replacing a protector is cheap and easy, and you get three in each pack.

Buying Options

If for some reason the amFilm is unavailable or its price skyrockets, go with the Maxboost Premium Tempered Glass Screen Protector for iPhone 8/7/6s/6 and iPhone 8 Plus/7 Plus/6s Plus/6 Plus. The glass is just as good as amFilm’s—it’s the same hardness, measuring between 7 and 8 on the Mohs scale in our tests. The Maxboost protectors come with an installation frame, though we actually found it a bit more difficult to get a perfect alignment than with the amFilm models. Ultimately, we think the TechMatte protector’s track record puts it over the top: It has more than 30,000 reviews, most of them positive, and those reviews are rated as high-quality on FakeSpot, compared with the Maxboost’s 3,000 (which have a lower Fakespot rating).

What to look forward to

In general, we expect glass manufacturers to continue to come up with stronger materials. It’s also possible that improvements in glass technology will allow for screen protectors that wrap all the way around a phone’s curved edges.

Among Anker’s GlassGuard screen protectors, only the iPhone X version has a frame, which in our testing was a little too wide and allowed the glass to be installed off-center. The iPhone 8/7/6s/6 and 8 Plus/7 Plus editions both rely on the inferior hinge method. In our testing, the iPhone 8 GlassGuard showed spiderweb cracks in our scratch test, which we haven’t seen with any other screen protector.

Belkin’s InvisiGlass Ultra Screen Protection for iPhone 8 & 7 seems to be the most promising screen protector on paper, but its design prevents us from recommending it. You can purchase the protector from a number of retailers for installation at home, or you can buy it at an Apple retail store and have it installed for you on Belkin’s ScreenCare+ Application System, a truly cool machine that guarantees a perfectly aligned installation. (The home-install version has a larger opening for the Home button and a bigger cutout at the top, but is otherwise the same.) An Apple Store employee told us that if something goes wrong during the installation (such as dust under the screen), they’ll pull the protector off and start with a new one, so you’re guaranteed a perfect install. If you’re installing at home, the included installation tray is among the best tools we tested for a well-aligned installation.

We measured the InvisiGlass Ultra between 7 and 8 on the Mohs scale, as high as any other protector we tested. Unfortunately, both versions of the InvisiGlass Ultra (for the iPhone 7 or 8 and for the iPhone 7 Plus or 8 Plus) are too narrow: The protector leaves an exposed strip of active display along the long edges and causes an unsightly prismatic distortion—a glowing rainbow glare—at those edges. According to Belkin, this is an intentional choice to prevent the protector from lifting away from the screen, as a company representative explained: “It was an executive decision that Belkin made to create an overlay that has ZERO lifting and therefore sacrifice some active screen coverage area.” (In other words, by completely avoiding the curved edge of the phone’s screen, Belkin’s design reduces the chance that the protector will separate from the screen at the edges.) Although we can’t see how a few fractions of a millimeter more coverage, stopping short of the phone’s curved edge, could lead to lifting, we’d rather replace a less expensive amFilm protector if lifting did occur than have an annoying edge over the active screen area.

Belkin’s ScreenForce Tempered Glass Screen Protector for iPhone 7 or 8 and iPhone 7 Plus or 8 Plus is harder than the InvisiGlass (between 6 and 7 on the Mohs scale in our tests) and less expensive, and it goes just about all the way to either edge of the active screen area. Belkin doesn’t include the same installation tray as it does with its other two models, though. This protector instead relies on a modified hinge method installation (an adhesive tab holds the protector in place while you’re putting it on), which is more complicated and doesn’t offer as consistent an installation. This model doesn’t have anything our top pick lacks, but it costs several times more.

The BodyGuardz Pure 2 Premium Glass Screen Protector for iPhone 7 or 8 and iPhone 7 Plus or 8 Plus comes with one of the better installation systems we tested: The protector sits in a tray that fits right onto the face of the phone, ensuring a straight alignment. However, although the glass covers the entire active screen area, it exhibits a distracting prismatic distortion at the edges. This protector proved to be as hard as any other screen protector we tested, at between 7 and 8 on the Mohs scale, and BodyGuardz offers free replacements (with a $6 shipping fee) for the life of the phone (at least two years). Although it’s a good value next to the other expensive protectors we dismissed, it’s not materially better than the amFilm protector, which costs much less.